Memorial Art in Hamburg

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Here & Now: A Monument to the Victims of National Socialist Justice in Hamburg is located at the Provincial High Court and Court of Appeal in Sievekingplatz. The view from the courthouse shows only a gray granite wall with the date 1933.

The date 1933 marks the beginning of the Third Reich. A nearby sign reminds us that in 1933 "the German court was the willing organ of the National Socialist Dictatorship. Judges and lawyers enforced decisions characterized by racial hatred against Jews, Poles, Russians, and other groups. Almost all kept quiet about the injustice. Only a few tried to resist."

Black Form--Dedicated to the Missing Jewswas created by sculptor Sol LeWitt. It is the sole black form among a group of white geometric forms created by the artist beginning in the 1980s. LeWitt wanted the monument to carry no inscription. The black form alone conveys the absence of the Jewish community.

The Joseph-Carlebach-Platz Synagogue Monument, designed by Margrit Kahl, marks the former location of the Bornplatz Synagogue, once the largest synagogue in Northern Germany until its willful destruction during Kristallnacht. The plaza is named for Dr. Joseph Carlebach, who was the last Chief Rabbi of Hamburg. In 1941 he and his family were deported to the Jungfernhof Concentration Camp and murdered.

The stonework of the plaza follows the vaulting of the ceiling in the destroyed synagogue.

Platz der Jüdischen Deportierten (Square of the Deported Jews) by Ulrich Rückriem marks the assembly point for Jews being deported from Hamburg. The rough stone is meant to bring to mind the wailing wall in Jerusalem. A sign near the monument reads: In remembrance of the Jewish citizens of Hamburg who, during the National Socialist tyranny, were sent from this place to their deaths in their thousands. Remember always, remain vigilant.